1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for projecting future managed backup occupancy in a data backup system.
2. Background of Invention
In many data backup systems, the total volume of data backed up by the system is constantly increasing. In order to manage the acquisition of new backup capacity and ensure that the available capacity is not exceeded, it is necessary to predict how the total volume of data backed up will increase over time.
Modeling how the total volume of data backed up will increase over time is also essential in order to compare the overall cost of providing the necessary backup capacity for a given data volume using different backup systems. Without such modeling, it is impossible to determine whether the cost of moving to a new backup system will be justified over a given period of time.
Prior art systems have not provided a consistent and accurate process for predicting growth in backed up data volumes over time.